Marketing & Sales Consulting

MarketCrest, LLC an online marketing firm located in the Historic Downtown McKinney Square participated in a ribbon cutting and grand opening event on March 9, 2017 to celebrate their new offices.

The event was hosted by the McKinney Chamber of Commerce of which MarketCrest is a member.

With several dozen Chamber members in attendance, as well as MarketCrest staff, family and friends, the 105 S. Tennessee St. event was full of energy and excitement.

“I’m glad that you were able to come and celebrate with us. It’s a big deal, to be joining the historic downtown community.” said MarketCrest CEO, Scott Berry.

The company’s expansion created a need for a new office space and MarketCrest was officially relocated to the Historic Downtown McKinney, TX Square in November of 2016.

The Ribbon Cutting event, hosted by the Chamber of Commerce, was simple and elegant, yet celebrated everything that MarketCrest has accomplished in its growth and new location.

A rooftop champagne toast and lunch finished out the celebratory day, but for now it’s back to business in the new MarketCrest office.

As an online marketing firm in McKinney, MarketCrest provides marketing consulting and services such as content creation, SEO, PPC, website and social media management. The firm works primarily in the small business and legal fields.

MarketCrest also provides marketing consultation for start-ups associated with The Werx in McKinney, TX.

In addition, on April 11th, Scott Berry will be part of the panel for a Competitive Edge Business Seminar “Optimizing Your Online Brand” which is hosted by the Chamber and located at the Holiday Inn & Suites in McKinney.

Some business mistakes are more costly than others. In the digital marketing world, there are at least 10 marketing mistakes that you simply cannot afford to make and still expect to achieve your revenue targets. Here are 10 huge mistakes to avoid.

1. You Don’t Have A Written Sales Strategy

Make sure Marketing and Sales know the revenue target required to reach your annual goal. Factor in the length of the sales cycle, close ratio, repeat business, capacity, onboarding and time to pay. Also collect information on existing customer revenue, anticipated growth, churn and carry over (sold fresh the previous year and in the coming year will bill a full 12 months).

When you know what you need to sell… and whenyou need to get it sold and billed, you are ready to build your marketing plan.

2. You Don’t Have A Written Marketing Strategy

What is your one-page plan for supporting the revenue goal the way it needs to be sold this year (products/services)? What is your marketing expense required to execute on your marketing plan and how will the cost be allocated across the calendar year? Not sure if you are investing enough on your marketing? Check it against your industry and small business benchmarks (often 3-10% of sales depending on your industry and how mature your market is).

Analyze the previous year’s category spend and determine what to cut or expand. Create a SWOT analysis if needed. How many personas (target audiences) will you be marketing to and can you segment the existing contact information to match. Do you need to secure additional contacts? Do you need to secure resources to help you attain your marketing goals? Have you considered all the marketing tools and technology available to support marketers in this app heavy environment?

43% of companies have an executive in their organization who is directly responsible for an overall content marketing strategy. (Curata, 2014)

48% of B2B marketers have a content marketing strategy, and 35% percent have gone so far as to document their strategy. (Content Marketing Institute, 2015)

3. Your Website Pages and Content Weren’t Designed For A Specific Purpose

Personas and Keyword analysis will determine your web page content and content plan for the year. Understanding your target audience is key to designing content for a specific purpose. Do you have content designed to help your target market get through their entire buying cycle? What if they are “kicking tires” and what do you have for them if they are deciding between your firm and one other?

84% of B2B marketers and 85% of B2C marketers are actively looking to gain a better understanding of their audience or planning to do so in the coming year. (Content Marketing Institute, 2015)

4. Your Website Is A Static “Billboard”

Google rewards websites with lots of high quality, fresh pages. Quality content increases the likelihood of increased traffic, lengthy stays and high page rankings. Create content that engages an audience, keeps them on your page, or makes them return.

It is important that your website has the ability to reel in consumers and offer them an option to become engaged with the company. This allows you to create engagement, nurture them during the buying cycle, monitor and score their activity and nudge them to convert.

61% of consumers say they feel better about, and are more likely to buy from, a company that delivers custom content. (Custom Content Council, 2011)

Examples: Do you have strong Calls To Action (CTA) on your web or landing pages? Many companies rely on CTAs such as Speak to a Specialist, Request a Quote/Sample, Get Help Now! Request a Free Consult, Sign Up Here, Download Here, and Follow or Share our Social Media Links.

6. You Don’t Publish Content

Consumers want a service or company that they can trust. Trust comes from being a credible source. One way to achieve credibility is to become an industry expert online by publishing original content that customers or other industry leaders may reference when looking up relevant information.

75% of B2B buyers rely more on content to research and make B2B purchasing decisions than they did a year ago. (Demand Gen Report, 2014)

86% of B2B marketers report that their organizations are using content marketing, and 70% of them are creating more content than they did one year ago.

80% of business decision-makers prefer to get company information in a series of articles versus an advertisement. (Roper Public Affairs, 2012)

7. You Don’t Repurpose Existing Content

Consumers like to consume content in various ways. Some like to listen, some watch and some read. If you understand this, you can create content that is helpful to your visitors and customers and maximize its reach by repurposing content. Example: One, high-quality blog post or article can be turned into a slide deck, video, email, tweet, facebook post, brochure etc. Invest in quality content and remember to repurpose it relentlessly.

8. You Aren’t Building A List Of Relevant Contacts

Having a list of contacts is crucial. Keep track of all consumers, industry leaders, people who have visited your website or requested information, referrals, etc.

Also know even a good contact list will decay by about 20+% each year because people are constantly unsubscribing, switching jobs, moving or getting new email addresses. As a result, you must be building your database of contacts 12 months a year. Having a long list of contacts creates a bit of a “tribe” that can support your business in good time and in bad. Share industry and company news; new articles, ebooks and research…then when you are ready to introduce a new product and service they will be there to provide advice and spread the word.

With a list constantly in a state of decay, pay close attention to the formula for List Growth Rate:

What It Is: The rate at which your email list is growing.

How to Calculate It: ([(Number of new subscribers) minus (Number of unsubscribes + email/spam complaints)] ÷ Total number of email addresses on your list]) * 100

As we suggested, there is natural decay on your email list. It expires by about 22.5% every year. Always be growing your list…

9. You Don’t Email Your List At Least Once Per Month

Look, you can’t kill email! It’s the cockroach of the Internet, and that’s a compliment. Resilience is a good thing.

These days all emails are not created equally. A savvy marketer with the right technology, can set up workflows for email nurturing, include images, personalize with customer names, segment, and provide CTAs optimized for mobile. You have people willing to listen. Doesn’t your business have something important to say?

91% of consumers check their email daily (ExactTarget) and 48% of emails are opened on mobile devices (Litmus).

Your company will want to measure your email program’s effectiveness.The most common email metrics are: sent, delivered, bounced, open (open rate), click (click rate or click to open), unsubscribe rate and marked as spam. Find the right key performance indicators for your business so you can test, tweak and improve.

2) you are not helping people find your firm by using paid search or Pay Per Click ads (PPC)…

Just because people can’t find your company online, maybe it’s not the end of the world. Some companies don’t require online leads to increase sales. If you are one of those firms congrats…you are blessed almost beyond belief. For most of us, our potential clients use the internet to research and jump start their buying process. If we can’t be found…then it’s like we don’t exist….

By 2016, more than half of the dollars spent in US retail will be influenced by the web. (Source: Forrester Research )

Content creation ranks as the single most effective SEO technique. (Marketing Sherpa, 2013)

In search engine optimization, on-page optimization refers to factors that have an effect on your Web site or Web page listing in natural search results. These factors are controlled by you or by coding on your page. Examples of on-page optimization include actual HTML code, meta tags, keyword placement and keyword density.

In search engine optimization, off-page optimization refers to factors that have an effect on your Web site or Web page listing in natural search results. These factors are off-site in that they are not controlled by you or the coding on your page.

Examples of off-page optimization include things such as link popularity and page rank.

If your company is not helping people find you by using paid search or PPC (a quick hit)…get started the right way.

Tip #2: Determine how much you’re willing to pay for a lead or conversion.

Tip #3: Don’t Go It Alone

Paid Ads are a great way to “test” new landing pages (copy and CTA).

PPC can be a good quick hit but it doesn’t compare to proper SEO and content marketing per dollar spent, content marketing generates more than three times the number of leads than paid search does. (Kapost/Eloqua, 2012)

Content marketing costs between 31 and 41% less than paid search, depending on the organization’s size. (Kapost/Eloqua, 2012)

Summary:

Make sure to have a written sales AND marketing strategy. Create a website that has SEO optimized copy; fresh unique content; is constantly evolving and more than a static “billboard”… and has landing pages that produce conversions. You will want to have a list of relevant contacts (the making of a “tribe”)and make sure to be contacting them at least once per month.

If you are operating without a formal sales and marketing plan designed exclusively for the current year and your annual revenue target…you are operating on a wish and a prayer. You can repair the damage quickly though…contact the team at MarketCrest a request a free consultation. Tell us about your current business challenges and imperatives and we will share how similar companies are solving those issues using online or digital marketing.

M. Scott Berry, Founder and Managing Director of MarketCrest LLC, a McKinney and Plano, TX based online marketing firm, has recently been named a Marketing Mentor at The Werx in McKinney, Texas. At McKinney Werx, mentors come and work directly alongside entrepreneurs during scheduled mentor hours and host lunch and learn sessions on relative topics to startups and small businesses.

Christine Smith of McKinney Werx says, “Scott has led several sessions on marketing for our participants and we decided it would be beneficial to have him and the MarketCrest team available on a regular basis.”

Scott has already led sessions on “Social Media for Startups” and “How to Improve the Number of Touchpoints with Prospects and Clients”.

Scott Berry states, “The work environment at The Werx is infectious. It’s so exciting and inspirational that you want to be a part of it. You feel the need to contribute in some way. As an entrepreneur myself, I recall the early days of our startup and can only imagine how much easier it would have been to have access to the mentors at The Werx.”

Most recently, the online marketer hosted a lunch and learn on the topic of 10 marketing mistakes you can’t afford to make. Berry covered a number of topics including how businesses need to take the time to document a written sales strategy and a written marketing startegy in order to make their marketing efforts successful. “As business owners, sometimes we trip over the basics.

We have seen many profitable and respected companies make the mistake of not creating formal plans for growing sales, and supporting those goals with modern and proven marketing tactics.” Berry referenced these related statistics: “Only 48% of B2B marketers have a content marketing strategy, only 35% percent have gone so far as to document their strategy,” according to a 2015 article published by Content Marketing Institute. “For business owners and marketers, those stats are alarming. We then walked the entrepreneurs though 8-10 additional marketing mistakes they couldn’t afford to make.

It was eye opening for participants and a highly interactive session.”

B2B Marketing Techniques: Yes, investing time in persona development and list segmentation is worth it.

Two of the most influential ways to market your business include implementing the techniques of persona development and list segmentation.

Not only do these practices help to efficiently identify your target market, but they help business owners and CEOs determine the most effective strategies for attracting, engaging, and satisfying their clients. Not to mention the practice has been proven to help win business and boost profits.

Uninformed marketing, the kind that is commonly used to blindly attract anyone and everyone, tends to end up in the mundane, unsuccessful category. It doesn’t stand out from the crowd. It fails to make a convincing argument to the audience. By taking the time to determine who your business is best suited for, business owners and CEOs can optimize their marketing budget and maximize ROI.

List Segmentation

The first step includes segmentation, or the classification of individuals into various groups based on specific characteristics or qualities. Once these subgroups have been determined, distinguishing tactics can be implemented so that each subset is adequately addressed. In order to pull this off, business owners should tap into a variety of supporting data from various resources.

When deciding which target markets are most applicable to your brand, the following criteria are crucial for successful market segmentation:

The group must be large enough to produce substantial income.

The market must be consistent and not at risk for dissipation or disappearance from the general population.

The group has a general history of responsiveness or reactivity to being targeted from an advertising standpoint.

The characteristics that determine the subsets must be clear, measurable, and exact.

Reaching the subset does not require any additional or excessive expense.

Individually specific consumers can be targeted from the group.

Your marketing strategies must be capable of reaching said group.

The subsets offer relevant supporting data that enhances and improves your approach to sales and marketing.

Marketing experts often use geographical identifiers like country, states, regions, cities, languages, postal codes or even neighborhoods to help narrow down a specific group of targeted consumers.

Another option for marketing segmentation includes the classification of customers based on demographic information like age, education level, current occupation, and/or gender.

Using a combination of both geographical and demographical descriptors is often referred to as a geo-cluster approach to segmentation, and this method helps business leaders to identify an even more specific audience.

Internal segmenting of customer accounts is often used as a business model to help organize territory based sales tactics. For example, client accounts grouped by industry type, transaction volume history, or nature of the developed relationship can all help to identify the most loyal accounts and those that are most likely to conduct continued business with your company.

Once your target markets have been established, a key to successful marketing campaigns is the development of personas.

Persona Development

This requires business professionals to place themselves “in the shoes” of their own customers and create a hypothetical individual that is likely to do business with their company. In theory, these characters are real people, with real identifiers, realistic characteristics, and relevant needs. So, how do you generate these marketing personas?

Start by considering the following questions:

Describe your persona’s demographic characteristics. Are they male or female? How old are they? What do they do for a living?

In the B2C world, you might leverage whom they live with and what necessities keep their household afloat. In B2B, not so much.

You can, however leverage other characteristics. How do they make choices when it comes to spending money? What advertising techniques are most influential to them? What types of outlets or platforms are pivotal to their buying choices?

Determine which departments are most likely to be involved (ie: Information Technology, Purchasing, Sales, Marketing etc.) and why. What is the driving force behind their activity or interactions with your company’s industry? How might they communicate with your competitors or other businesses with products and/or services similar to yours?

And also…

Why are they choosing to engage with you specifically? What is the extent of your relationship with them? Do they need special attention or accommodations? What are their goals? Where is this relationship going?

What media platforms are most useful in transmitting helpful information regarding your company’s products and/or services? Are they conducting online searches or using social media accounts? What keywords might they be using to help them locate your company online?

Are there any other influencing factors like product reviews, personal success stories, or specific details concerning merchandise that might be driving their decision to reach out and conduct business with you?

People tend to be very complex, so the more you can develop your marketing personas, the more relatable, realistic, and successful they will become.

Dive deeper and expand the character of your persona(s) with the following suggestions.

Tap into third party resources for statistical information regarding your persona’s demographics or habits. Existing data is incredibly informative and applicable to further strengthening the potential of your persona.

Consider how your persona might interact in real life. Use those scenarios to help you create strategies for conversation and communication to your target audience.

Take advantage of any opportunities to implement social media platforms that are relevant to your persona. As society continues to depend on technology, these free resources are becoming popular and effective tools for reaching your buyers.

So why exactly should businesses take the time to segment and develop marketing personas?

Personas should be used to help your business team come up with marketing strategies all across the board. Collectively determine which personas are most likely to conduct business with your company on a regular basis.

Which personas are least likely to spend their money with you? If you narrow down your marketing target, you are more likely to secure your best accounts and generate dependable, predictable transactions. Failure to develop well defined personas, can result in futile marketing attempts that do not reach the correct audience.

In addition, successful personas allow business leaders to connect, relate, and communicate with their clients on a more personal level. This type of relationship has a proven track record for establishing loyalty, longevity, and overall customer satisfaction.

If you get to know your clients like you do close friends and family, they will be more likely to recommend your product and/or services to others. It will also keep the doors wide open to smoother communication when conducting your business transactions. You will have the tools to identify the specific needs of your clients, and you will know best how to address them.

Here are just a few examples of how marketing personas can help you maximize your business capabilities.

Defining your company’s distinguishing qualities

Shining light on internal changes that might help enhance current client relations

So, not only can segmentation and marketing personas help businesses shape their advertising and branding tactics, but they can help businesses to determine the most effective business practices that are most likely to result in long term, profitable relationships with their clients.

MarketCrest is a firm focused exclusively on Marketing Consulting & Services that drive revenue growth. Simply, we exist to help you compete and grow and we expect to be held accountable for your improved performance. Learn more, and receive a free 1-hour consult and Get Help NOW!

Managing the process of implementing a periodic price increase can be “harrowing”, but it should be a normal part business life. All too often though, we see increases deployed with mixed results.

The good news is there are steps you can take to ensure your price increase “sticks” and so do your customers. During the series, we will answer some of the most common questions on the topic.

We will share our experiences and suggest some smart moves to make, while warning you about a few dumb ones to avoid.

When is it ok to raise prices?

In general, anytime you can do so successfully. You perform quality work and should be paid according to your value. Never hesitate to have an internal discussion on the topic. You don’t have to approve an increase every time your team discusses it, but it is a healthy business practice to discuss increases on a regular basis.

Underlying assumption: Your company has decided to increase prices and now you must execute the increase successfully. Here goes:

First: Get your perspective right. Your business has to make money; and as long as it makes money… the business has options and a future. When you are ready to approach the client, be confident and fully professional. Don’t make excuses or seem sheepish. A price increase is often a business imperative. Truth be known, we don’t like to give them and our clients don’t like to receive them. But, as professionals, it is our job to implement increases and people are counting on you. So step 1 is to strengthen your mind and don’t look back.

Smart Pricing Move

“Steel your mind” with the knowledge that customers who threaten to leave over a price increase, tend to do so only 8-12% of the time. Clients know the cost of switching to a new supplier is expensive and risky.

Dumb Pricing Move

Go to the client meeting with thoughts of getting “any increase” because anything is better than nothing… dumb move. Establish what you need during the increase planning sessions and expect to get 100% of your target increase.

Planning For A Successful Price Increase

You shouldn’t attempt to raise prices without careful planning, and collaboration with your senior team. The stakes are high, so make certain there is a short, written brief that explains the basics. Circulate it internally to get sr. leadership feedback, and buy in, on your strategy and implementation plan.

The brief should cover at least these three points:

Which products or customers get exactly what increase; and if implemented fully, what is the total financial value of the increase to your own company.

The exact dates you intend to communicate the increases, to whom, and the main talking points.

The third point you should cover in the brief is a list of customers that are likely to kick and scream about the increase. You must then, detail the nature of the revenue at risk. Keep it simple and provide a 1-2 paragraph overview on each potential screamer, detailing how you intend to respond if major concerns arise.

Smart Pricing Move

Give your client at least 30 days notice of an increase. Anything less is unprofessional and risks your reputation and credibility with the client. Also, they may need to make adjustments on their end because of the increase. On a related note, never try to slip an increase by the client hoping they will not notice. They always notice, and it will go poorly for you when they do.

Dumb Pricing Move

Counting on your charm and relationships to “smooth” the increase over instead of taking time to prepare. Instead, during the planning stage, secure any proof sources or related third party documents supporting the increase. Think material, fuel, shipping, labor increases, etc. You may not use or need them, but they will be helpful to have in your back pocket in case they try to negotiate.

Speaking of negotiation, while this series is about the proper process for planning and communicating a price increase. At MarketCrest, we believe that Sales and Marketing leaders can have a significant impact on a team’s win ratio by preparing for negotiations in a certain way. We will share our experiences and how we approach negotiations in a future series.

How to Communicate The Price Increase

You and your team have thoroughly discussed the increase and why it is important it be executed professionally and completely. Your “mind is right” and you are firmly committed to the task at hand. (Step 1…check)

You have invested time to write a small brief covering the nature of the increase and your plan for implementation. It has been circulated among sr. leadership to gain feedback and approval. (Step 2…check)

When it is time to implement the price increase you start with a smart move.

Smart Pricing Move

In all client discussions (written or verbal) you will be firm while still showing respect and appreciation for the situation and your relationship. You make no apologies or excuses, keeping a kind, but business mindset.

Smarter Still Pricing Move

You also document all the instances over the past year where you have: been their hero; held/matched lower prices; upgraded customer facing technology; beat your KPI’s; saved them money; or helped them avoid certain expenses entirely. Cost avoidance is often overlooked. Having this data at your disposal will be critical to providing a full view of your financial value.

Remember to calculate the total impact to the client BEFORE they can. You might find that although there is an increase, it might not impact their current year financials as much as they imagine.

Mega Smart Pricing Move

In addition to the first two moves, you add the absolute smartest possible move… you provide the client options. By helping them explore options, you are being part of the solution and a valued partner. The client could keep the product/services exactly as is, or select/design a less expensive version. In some cases, they could test some slightly more expensive options with potential to provide a greater ROI.

Be ready with samples so they can envision the possibilities. If you have anything else new or fresh to offer, now is the time to bring it up. You might consider offering a minor incentive to your client for giving something new a try.

Let’s stop and respond to another commonly asked question. When it is time to speak with the customer, should I go it alone, or bring help? If you expect significant pushback and want to increase your likelihood of success, bring one of the sr. executives. Executives are usually willing to make calls in the field, and often, they can increase your odds. Just remember to select someone you have made successful calls with in the past.

Reality check

At this point, after presenting the price increase, you will either feel confident or very worried. If you are squirming in your chair, ask yourself if you did everything in your power to build exit barriers to your client leaving.

It is rare for a client to depart over a price increase, but strong sales and marketing leaders create solutions customized to their client’s business needs, in part to deter that option. Solutions customized to integrate into your client’s processes, render departing over a standard price increase, unreasonable.

Think special materials, staffing, programming, technology, processes, procedures, automation, reporting…all exit barriers that smart leaders put in place early and often. The relationship becomes a win/win and emotions stay in check during challenging discussions.

Closing Anecdote

Several moons ago, a client worth $8 million a year to us, asked for a 25% decrease in price and had competitive bids promising nearly $2 million per year in savings. Using the approach we have discussed in this series, and a few more we will cover in future posts, we avoided discounting our prices, and we raised them. Yes…raised them plus extended our contract two years. Aim high.

If this series exposed some areas of opportunity for you and your team, remember: “If you want improved results, you have to change how you do things.” That core belief is what drives us to be process oriented when solving business issues. Have a great week.

MarketCrest is a firm focused exclusively on Marketing Consulting & Services that drive revenue growth. Simply, we exist to help you compete and grow and we expect to be held accountable for your improved performance. Learn more, and receive a free 1-hour consult and Get Help NOW!

Welcome to our Marketing Blog! Here you can explore marketing articles that are relative to driving revenue. We will share strategy, tactics, case studies and marketing research to help you gain insight to compete and grow within your own market.

You may read more about our firm and even contact us through our website link below.

MarketCrest, LLC is a firm focused exclusively on Marketing Consulting & Services that drive revenue growth. Simply, we exist to help you compete and grow and we expect to be held accountable for your improved performance. Learn more, and receive a free 1-hour consult andGet Help NOW!

As a recognized leader in their industry, our client, FCL, specializes in developing fully automated personalized data driven campaigns. Over the course of their 40 year history, their service offerings had outpaced the competition, but their personal brand and marketing had not. FCL leadership sought to reposition their brand with a portfolio of current, relevant communication. We worked closely with FCL to define their needs; develop a comprehensive market solution and expand their reach leveraging ROI driven solutions. Our solution included corporate branding, content creation, website development, multi channel direct marketing, variable data print communications, public relations and social media marketing. We continue to work with them on revenue generation, marketing and other key initiatives. Read more →